Dubuque mother upset after 6-year-old son slips out of school unnoticed

A Dubuque woman is upset that her 6-year-old son was able to slip out of his elementary school this week apparently unnoticed.

Brianna Maas says her son Karsen, just a kindergartener at Audobon Elementary School, has some behavioral issues, and sometimes runs outside when he's upset.

He did that Wednesday, leaving school and wandering the streets.

It wasn't until Karsen was near a Walgreen's store about three blocks away that his grandparents luckily happened to see him wandering around and picked him up.

Maas went to meet them and took Karsen back to school.

"I got inside and they said, 'Can I help you?' I said, 'Well yeah, I have my son who apparently is missing that nobody informed me of.' The time span between leaving here going to Walgreen's, taking him back to school was about 10-15 minutes. Nobody had called me, nobody was outside when I got to Audobon, so there was nobody outside looking for him," Maas said.

And that's her biggest complaint--no one was searching outside the building.

Mike Cyze, director of school and community relations for the Dubuque Community School District, says the schools have protocols in place for situations like this.

"Certainly we did follow the protocol as soon as we found out about it. Anytime we find out about a situation, we follow that protocol to make sure that we're taking the necessary steps to ensure the safety of students," he said.

He said he couldn't comment on how specifically the school responded, but said they're working to make sure another incident like this doesn't happen again.

But that hasn't done much to assure Maas.

"I'm still worried. I mean, I go to work and I still have to worry about if he's going to be in school, if he's going to run out the door again," she said "How lucky that someone saw him that knew him down in that area, That they would've picked him up, because who knows how long it would've taken to see him or to know that he was even missing him."

Maas said the school has been in touch with her since the incident, and is willing to help find a solution to prevent this from happening again.

Cyze said he doesn't recall any other incidents like this happening since he's been with the district.